Mindfulness: balancing success and burnout

The ridge between success and failure can be narrow. Losing your balance can sometimes have fatal consequences. On the way to Hamperokken, a 1,404-metre summit near Tromsø in Norway, I climb, run and walk along a mountain ridge. I am almost glad the weather is gloomy. Mist limits the view. I am completely in the present, aware that I cannot afford a wrong step. On either side, the ridge drops almost vertically for 200 or 300 metres.

Kilian Jornet shows the ridge runners must tackle at the Hamperokken Skyrace.

Thinking about running at work, and work while running

In today’s fast-moving world, with all our communication tools, staying mindful and focused is not easy. I notice how trapped I can become in loops of thought. At my desk, I think about sport; while running, I think about the next steps for my IT company. Social media affects mindfulness too. During a coffee break, I open Facebook and see that 10 of my almost 3,000 real or virtual friends and acquaintances are in the mountains or training. I gain something none of us needs: dissatisfaction. Please do not misunderstand me. I deeply love my work and my running. Yet I sometimes catch myself failing to focus on what I am doing, caught in a negative spiral and wanting to be somewhere else.

Sport has convinced me that acting is better than reacting. Whenever I notice that my running is becoming literally uneven, I analyse the imbalance before it becomes a serious breakdown. Acting early nips problems in the bud. Otherwise, I will have to correct things later and perhaps face a long injury break.

The ridge between success and failure can be narrow, in the mountains and elsewhere.

What I am sharing here is deeply personal. Until now, only my wife Julia knew. I thought for a long time about whether to discuss it, because a negative belief from childhood tells me not to show weakness. Showing weakness makes you vulnerable, yet it is deeply human. Perhaps more on that another time.

MBSR: mindfulness against burnout

For several weeks, I have been attending a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, or MBSR. Developed in the US in the late 1970s, this programme addresses stress and burnout through directing attention and developing, practising and sustaining greater mindfulness. It involves body awareness, seated and walking meditation, mindfulness exercises and maintaining awareness in everyday activities.

I know that, viewed superficially from the outside, MBSR may look rather esoteric, and that some people here might interpret it as weakness. Ultimately, I do not care. Just as in sport, I am taking lasting action against growing distraction, dissatisfaction and stress. I would rather act now than eventually have to react to depression, burnout or other serious illness. I am convinced MBSR is an enriching experience for me as a husband, father, entrepreneur, trail runner and whole person. I am learning to accept things as they are without having to judge them. As a father, entrepreneur and athlete, I must avoid crossing the ridge into burnout. Mindfulness helps me do that.

Mindfulness: simply BEING in the moment!

At the 2018 Hamperokken Skyrace, incidentally, I finished in the top 10 after 57 km and 4,800 metres of climbing.

Acting mindfully is simply smarter!